Coil-wire seal.



No. 822,576 PATENTED JUNE 5, 1906.

B. I. BROOKS.

COIL WIRE SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.4, 1905.

EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

COIL-WIRE SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

.ratented June 5, 1906.

Application filed August 4,1905. Serial No. 272,672.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. Bnooxs, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Coil-Wire Seals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to press-fastened seals of lead and wire in which. the seal part or lead incloses a coil of the shackle-wire, integral with one end thereof, through which the other end is threaded preparatory to the press-fastening operation and within which the threaded end is securely fastened and there guarded against being released by cutting into the lead.

Seals of this description, broadly speaking, are set forth in my specification forming part of United States Letters Patent N 0. 154,639, dated September 1, 187 4, and subsequent specifications. Such seals are known as safety seals and necessarily cost more than seals of like weight, &c., without the inolosed coil; but it has heretofore been necessary to cut open sample seals in order to show that given seals are of the safety construction.

The objects of the present invention are to expose to View the inclosed coil, both in the unpressed seal as it leaves the factory and in the press-fastened seal, and thus to indicate by the external appearance of the seal part that the seal is of the safety type.

The invention consists in the combination of peculiarly-constructed parts, as hereinafter described and claimed.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figure 1 is a side view of the shackle-wire of the improved seal as it appears before the seal part is cast thereon. Fig. 2 is a corresponding view of the complete seal. Fig. 3 is an elevation projected from Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the improved seal applied to a pair of car-doorstaples and threaded, and Fig. 5 is a face view of the same seal pressfastened.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in all the figures.

The improved seal is composed of a flexible shackle-wire a, of suitable iron, and a seal part I), of suitable soft metal herein termed lead.

The ends 1 and 2 of the shackle-wire a form, respectively, a helical locking-coil and a zigzag anchoring portion adapted to be threaded through the coil, as in Fig. 4, and to interlock therewith in the press-fastened seal, Fig. 5.

The seal part b is cast fast upon and around the coil 1 of the shackle-wire a and has a single threading hole 3 extending axially through the coil. The seal part b is further provided in its mold with a sight-hole 4, perpendicular to the coil 1 and adapted to expose the same to view in the seal as it leaves the factory, Figs. 2 and 3, and also in the press-fastened seal, Fig. 5. The seal part b is also provided in its mold with radial starpoints 5, adapted to remain substantially intact in the press fastened seal, Fig. 5. Otherwise the external shape of the seal part is immaterial.

The star-points 5 are intended to indicate that the seal part contains a safety-coil and to be so described in instructions relating to the improved seal, and they can not only be easily seen at some distance in daylight or with the aid of a lantern, but they are unavoidably felt when the seal is grasped to test it by pulling in the customary manner, and thus enable the style of the seal to be determined even in the dark.

The shackle a is passed through a pair of car-door-staples c or the like, the zigzag end 2 is then threaded through the coil 1 by way of the hole 3, and the seal, Fig. 4, is now ready to be fastened by means of an ordinary sealpress. In this operation the sight-hole 4 is kept open by a stud on the face of one of the dies, such as has been used for various purposes, and the seal part b is further provided with any desired press-marks, (represented by the characters X Ry in Fig. 5.)

The sight-hole 4 may obviously be dupli cated so as to expose the coil 1 to view on both sides of the seal part, the star-points 5 may be more or less than five in number, and other like modifications will suggest them selves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specification 1. A coil-wire seal composed of a flexible shackle-wire having a helical coil at one end, and a seal part of lead inclosing said coil and provided with a threading-hole extending axially through said coil and a sight-hole perpendicular thereto for exposing the coil to vlew.

2. The combination, in a seal adapted to be press-fastened, of a flexible shackle-wire, having as a characteristic feature a lockingcoil located at one end of the shackle, and a seal part of lead inclosing said coil and provided with a threading-hole extending through said coil and a sight-hole perpendicular thereto adapted to be kept open in the press-fastened seal for exposing to view said coil.

3. The combination, in a seal adapted to be press-fastened, of a flexible shackle-wire I having a helical coil and a zigzag anchoring 1o portion at its respective ends, and a seal part and adapted to admit said zigzag portion and i a sight-hole perpendicular thereto adapted to be kept open in the press-fastened seal for exr5 posing to view said coil.

EDWARD J. BROOKS.

Witnesses:

ELLEN J. BROOKS, ELINOR BROOKS. 

